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Scottish women's institute split over use of the term 'housewife'

FOR almost a century it has been a bastion of traditional values, imparting the needlecraft, flower arranging and baking skills that are de rigueur for any self-respecting homemaker.

Now, however, the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute (SWRI) is poised to ditch the term “housewife” from its committees and courses because many of its members consider it outdated.

A motion calling for the housewives’ committee to be renamed the homecrafts committee will be debated at the organisation’s annual conference in September.

The issue has divided the 25,000-strong membership and is expected to provoke fierce debate between modernising and conservative factions.

Alison Bayley, the SWRI’s chairwoman, said both sides held trenchant views on the issue. “Among some of our members there is a feeling that the name of the committee has served us well for 90 years and that it should continue,” she said. “Their argument is along the lines of ‘if it